Accidentally Mated To Four Alphas-Chapter 245: _ We Don’t Worship Parents

People come running.

Servants sprint in first, pale and panicked. Then feet thunder from deeper inside the mansion.

Luna Rayne pushes through the forming crowd, hair loose from sleep. Darien is just behind her, his jaw clenched tight and his eyes sharp. Daphne stumbles out of a doorway, mascara half-fixed and already streaking again.

Morgan and Grayson appear next, the twins frozen mid-breath before jumping forward to help. Heidi peeks from behind them, eyes huge, face draining of color.

Everyone is talking over everyone.

"What happened?"

"Move— give her space..."

"She’s bleeding— gods, she’s bleeding..."

Someone screams for towels. Another for the healer. Someone orders hot water. Someone else pushes through the crowd sobbing.

Heidi remained behind the twins like a shadow, one hand clamped over her mouth. When more blood hit the floor, she flinched so hard her knees buckled, and Grayson had to steady her with a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were wide and unfocused like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to move.

The servants lift Clarissa carefully, hands struggling to support her as more blood drips from her lips. Her head lolls. Her breath gurgles, thin and weak.

"Take her to her quarters," Luna Rayne commands firmly. "Now. The healer will meet you there."

Amias refuses to let go of his mother until the last possible second, walking beside the servants, hands shaking, breath heaving like he’s fighting his own shift.

Isolde’s instinct is to follow. To help and stay with him. Oh, poor Amias. He’s never had a moment of happiness all his life, has he? Isolde has watched him from the sidelines enough to know that he’s been the least lucky of them all.

She moves a step...

"Mom?" Daphne whispers sharply. "Mom, what—?"

"Darien. Daphne. Isolde."

Ines’s stern tone comes calling. She’s standing still amid the frenzy with an unreadable facial expression. Her eyes are cold like she’s bracing herself for her next order.

"Come with me," she commands. "Now."

Isolde whips around, stunned. "Mom, Luna Clarissa... something is wrong with her. Amias needs— we need..."

"You need to come with me." Ines’s voice drops, hard as stone. "Right now."

Isolde knows her mother and Luna Clarissa have been rivals right from the moment the Alpha married Ines. However, she didn’t expect that this enmity would continue to stretch on even in moments of distress such as this.

Just how crueler could their mother get, really?

Darien stiffens. Daphne glances between the blood trail on the floor and their mother’s face, torn between their desire to be there for Amias and the fear of their mother which they carry heavily in their hearts.

Isolde takes a step backward. "Mom, we can’t just leave them. Clarissa collapsed— Amias is terrified..."

Ines narrows her eyes. "And your own mother doesn’t need you?"

For a split second, the hallway goes soundless. Why would their mother even act like she needed them at this moment? It is just an act to avoid being of help to her archenemy, really. Isolde knows this for a fact.

Behind them, Clarissa is carried away with blood still dripping after her. Amias nearly collapses trying to follow, voice cracking as he yells for her. But Ines stands in front of her children like a wall.

Like she’s holding something inside herself with pure force. "Come. With. Me."

"Mom..." Darien steps closer, lowering his voice. "What’s going on? Can’t it wait?"

Ines doesn’t answer. At least, verbally.

She just turns her back and walks toward her chambers, shoulders squared, neck stiff, like she’s marching toward a battlefield. Leaving no room for argument. Isolde swallows panic and confusion mixing, twisting her chest.

Every instinct she owned—hers and Auro’s, screamed at her to run after Amias, kneel beside him, and do something. Leaving him felt like abandoning a wounded pup on the battlefield. She hated it. Hated herself for moving even an inch in the opposite direction. But her mother’s voice had that sharp edge—the one that could cut obedience out of them before they even realized they’d surrendered.

She looks one last time down the hall.

Amias is on his knees by the stairway now, hands in his hair, shaking uncontrollably as servants try to pull him back so they can tend to his mother.

Heidi stands with a hand over her mouth, eyes watery and terrified. Luna Rayne is giving rapid orders, trying to keep control of the chaos. Isolde’s instincts scream at her to go to them, help, and be present.

But her mother’s voice echoes in her skull: "And your own mother doesn’t need you?"

Isolde’s breath hitches.

Auro nudges her mind softly. "Just go. You know how scary your mother can get. Amias’s mate is already by his side. He should be okay."

Thus, Isolde turns and follows her mother.

Darien and Daphne walk on either side of her, silent, tense, and equally shaken. However, Daphne kept glancing back at the blood trail like it was going to reach out and grab her. Her hand shook when she pushed her hair behind her ear, and she bit her lip so hard it almost bled.

The siblings step away from the chaos behind them and into the quiet, charged air of their mother’s wing. As the door to Ines’s chambers closes behind them, the noise of Clarissa’s collapse fades, but the dread settles deeper.

Ines pours herself a glass of deep red wine, the liquid swirling in the crystal with a satisfying slosh. The clink of the glass against the counter sounds sharp in the otherwise quiet chamber. She tilts her head slightly, studying her children with eyes that could carve steel.

"After this meeting," she begins in a cold voice, "you two," she gestures at Isolde and Daphne, "will go straight to school after this meeting. No detours and heroics. Understood?"

Isolde and Daphne exchange a glance. A silent sigh passes between them, relief tangled with tension. "Yes, Mother," they say in unison.

Ines’s gaze snaps to Darien. Her eyes narrow, sharp as daggers. "And you..." she says, but the single word is heavier than a mountain.

Her tone carries something unfamiliar. It’s disappointment wrapped in fury which is unlikely since Ines’s children are the best behaved and never get in trouble. "What part of our relationship made you think you could have a mate... and hide it from me?"

Isolde’s stomach tightens. She finally understands. This isn’t just about secrecy. It’s about Heidi. The lowborn, Moon Blessed, previously human girl who dared to claim her place beside Darien. Ines’s entire worldview, built on family prestige, influence, and the sanctity of the Alpha lineage, collapses at the mere idea of Heidi as their future daughter-in-law.

Darien straightens with a firm jaw and squared shoulders. "I told you I was going to bring my mate home," he says evenly. "And I did. That’s her."

A sharp laugh reverberates through the room. Ines tilts her head back, amusement and malice intertwined on her face. "Her? That thing you were so sure I’d like? You intended to bring that into my house?"

Isolde and Daphne flinch. Even Darien hesitates, sensing the magnitude of his mother’s fury. Ines leans on the counter, eyes glinting. "When, exactly, did you start gaining such... guts?"

Isolde braces herself. She expects him to apologize immediately. They all do because no one questions Ines. Not directly or in her presence. But Darien’s face is unreadable, calm in a way that makes the tension tighten like a rope around their necks.

"Since I started to fall in love," he says quietly, and the words strike like thunder.

"Excuse me?" Ines’s eyes narrow further.

"I fell in love with her," Darien continues. "Your son, who has never truly cared for any woman, who has never been in love, finally found his mate. And she... she’s amazing. You should be happy. You should be proud. She’s one of a kind. Stronger than anyone else in the pack, clever, resilient... even you would be forced to admit that. She’s my mate."

Ines’s laugh is bitter now "A murderer! That girl is a murderer who left her peer—the daughter of a family that took her in, nurtured her—useless for the rest of her life! She killed her wolf, Darien! Do you know what that means?"

Darien’s eyes flash. His voice rises in fury and anguish. "Yes. I know! She defended herself! She was trying to survive! And maybe... maybe you’ve never been a good mother if all you care about is face and not my feelings. Not my happiness. Not what I want!"

Isolde feels her own chest tighten. She’s never heard Darien speak like this to their mother. There’s fire in his voice, danger, and an edge of heartbreak that makes her insides ache. But he’s not far from the truth. She shares the same sentiment and has been the only one who isn’t so close to their mother, unlike Daphne who used to be the woman’s literal mouthpiece.

Isolde can’t help but be glad the others are already seeing what she saw; their parents are selfish bastards whose children’s interests are the last things they care for except for theirs. She’s watched all of her siblings—excluding the twins, of course, dedicating their whole life to worshiping their parents.

Parents who deep down, don’t even care if they are happy or not. Of what use is their validation if it brings nothing but crushed dreams and promises a life full of nothing but misery?

"You want her gone? Fine. I’ve already cut ties with Father. And I will face him if he ever comes near her. And you," he points to Ines, voice low but lethal, "if you try to stop her... you’ll face the same. I will not allow anyone to harm my mate. Not you, not Father, not anyone."

The room goes still. Even the quiet hum of the chandeliers overhead seems to pause, listening. Isolde feels the thrum of tension vibrate in her teeth.

Darien turns sharply, cape of dark hair brushing his shoulders, and strides toward the door. "I’ve spoken."